The closing and graduation of the fifth Janggu and Samulnori drumming titled: Janggu and Samulnori with Papa, was fun and excitement. The workshop, sponsored by the Korean Cultural Centre, Lagos awarded 11 youths, who have mastered the art of playing the Janggu drum as well as 14 youths in Samulnori drumming.

The youth entertained the audience with a spectacular and intensive performance, which had some element of Bariga song free style and how they are reflected in the performance.

Williams said this year’s graduation was unique because through the workshop, many youths and traditional drummers were beginning to know how to notate, read musical note, which is a major theortical part of music.

“It is intended to teach mostly traditional drummers and interested Nigerians basic percussion theory, to notate, score and site-read. Likewise to enable them document our traditional beats in a written format,” he said.

He added that he learnt how to notate when he studied drumming in South Korea. “ I had the opportunity to study drumming in South Korea in 2013. On the first day, we were distributed our music notes and I was looking at it. I didn’t know where to start. So, I have to force myself out of the curriculum to learn it from my colleagues. I now started thinking that I have to pass this down and since then, I have been really pushing for it, ‘’ he said.

On the relevance of South Korean drumming in Nigeria, Williams said drumming was therapeutic, noting that Nigerians have a lot to gain by incorporating Janggu drumming skills into local drumming.

“We can use the janggu drum to develop our own drumming by merging Korean drums with our own. You can score the Janggu drum, but we still can’t score our drums. So, we need to inculcate this into our drumming. Nigerians are beginning to learn how to notate and citrate music and even the packing of the drumming.

“Here in Nigeria we just treat our drums anyhow. We look down on it. But learning from how they package and even the sequence of their drumming, the dexterity, the technics are what I’m selling to the youth so that we can learn. We have it, but we are careless about ours. Drumming is therapeutic. On its own, it can heal if people were willing to let themselves relax and consume the sound.”

Responding to a question about the relationship between Nigeria and South Korea in cultural journey, Williams said: “For a while, the South Korean government has been rolling out scholarships in the areas of education, sports likewise arts and culture, serving as a means of encouraging and empowering mostly the youths. It’s this same cultural policy between the two countries that gave me the opportunity to study in Korea and trained at the National Theatre of Korea in 2013 as a CPI scholarship participant. Till date, a lot of Nigerians are living and studying in South Korea with all expenses paid for by the Korean government.”

Williams said Janggu instrument, which cost 300 pounds, is handmade and that he tried to bring out some traditional implement from other countries for drummers to see how they can really better their own instead of downgrading it.

Wiliams added: ‘’The specialness that I see in it is the uniqueness of our traditional drums. The South Koreans promote their tradition and when you see it you think that it is modern or a technology. No, but most of them are crafted with hand, but you will think it is done with a machine, but not really. So, it’s just a way of trying to bring out some traditional implement from other countries for us to see how we can really better our own instead of downgrading it.’’